Forms,+Types+and+Structures+of+Poetry

toc

Topic
Forms, Types, and Structures of Poetry

How does poetry reveal what we might not otherwise recognize?
 * Essential Question **

Common Core Standards

 * RL.9-10.5.** Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
 * RI.9-10.2.** Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
 * W.9-10.2.** Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
 * Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
 * Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.
 * Use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts.
 * Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic.
 * Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
 * Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic).
 * W.9-10.7.** Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
 * SL.9-10.1.** Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
 * Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas.
 * Work with peers to set rules for collegial discussions and decision-making (e.g., informal consensus, taking votes on key issues, presentation of alternate views), clear goals and deadlines, and individual roles as needed.
 * Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.
 * Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.
 * SL.9-10.4.** Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
 * L.9-10.3.** Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Suggested Student Objectives

 * Define and offer examples of various forms of poetry.
 * Identify the form, rhyme scheme, and meter of poems studied.
 * Recognize and explain the distinguishing characteristics of various kinds of poetry, such as ballads, odes, lyric poetry, blank verse, haiku, and sonnets.
 * Describe how poetry differs from prose and explain why authors would choose one form over another for a particular purpose.
 * Discuss the effectiveness and different aspects of multiple forms and styles of poetry.
 * Compare the structures, styles, and messages of several poems to famous artistic works.

Suggested Readings
//Note: The majority of the poems listed below and in the following unit can be placed into a number of different poetic topics. The poems listed under the following topics are only meant to give examples of poems that possess the structure, style, or element indicated. Certainly the poems may be taught in conjunction with additional and/or different styles and elements as they teacher deems appropriate.//

"Bogland" (Seamus Heaney) "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (John Keats)
 * Ballad**

"The Princess" (Lord Alfred Tennyson) "Ulysses" (Lord Alfred Tennyson)
 * Blank Verse**

"Fast Break" (Edward Hirsch) SpringBoard Workbook p. 214 "Harlem" (Langston Hughes) SpringBoard Workbook p. 237 "Oranges" (Gary Soto) SpringBoard Workbook p. 22 "The Road Not Taken" (Robert Frost) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 123
 * Diction**

"Hope is the Thing With Feathers" (Emily Dickinson) Springboard Workbook p. 238 "I Ask My Mother to Sing" (Li-Young Lee) "Love Is" (Nikki Giovanni) "My Poetry" (Maria Herrera-Sobek) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 320 "'Race' Politics" (Luis J. Rodriquez) SpringBoard Workbook p. 37
 * Dramatic Poetry**

"Hanging Fire" (Audre Lorde) SpringBoard Workbook p. 220 "kidnap poem" (Nikki Giovanni) SpringBoard Workbook p. 242 "Poetry" (Pablo Neruda) SpringBoard Workbook p. 191 "The Gift" (Li-Young Lee) "Theme for English B" (Langston Hughes) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 445 "Training" (Demetrio Herrera) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 212
 * Free Verse**

"Old Pond" (Basho Matsuo) Various Examples of Haiku (Multiple Poets)
 * Haiku**

"Fable for When There's No Way Out" (May Swenson) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 124 "Fireworks" (Amy Lowell) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 205
 * Heroic Couplet**

"In Time of Silver Rain" (Langston Hughes) "Lineage" (Margaret Walker) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 360 "The Underground" (Seamus Heaney)
 * Lyric Poetry**

"Incident in a Rose Garden" (Donald Justice) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 728 "The Darkling Thrush" (Thomas Hardy)
 * Meter**

"Morning Glory" (Naomi Shihab Nye) "The Writer" (Richard Wilbur) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 447
 * Narrative Poetry**

This can be taught in conjunction with the poetry listed in the sonnet section.
 * Octet**

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" (John Keats)
 * Ode**

"Annabel Lee" (Edgar Allan Poe) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 726 "Dream Variations" (Langston Hughes) "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (William Wordsworth) SpringBoard Workbook p. 236 "My Papa's Waltz" (Theodore Roethke) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 381 "O What is That Sound" (W.H. Auden) __McDougal Littell - The Language of Literature__ p. 623
 * Rhyme Scheme**

This can be taught in conjunction with the poetry listed in the sonnet section.
 * Sestet**

"London" (William Wordsworth)
 * Sonnet - Petrarchan**

"Ozymandias" (Percy Bysshe Shelley) Sonnet 18 (William Shakespeare) SpringBoard Workbook p. 225 Sonnet 73 (William Shakespeare)
 * Sonnet - Shakespearean**

1. //Faulkner in the University: Class Conferences at the University of Virginia 1957-1958// (William Faulkner, Frederick L. Gwynn, ed.) (excerpts) 2. "Crediting Poetry," Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (1995), [Seamus Heaney] (excerpts)
 * __Suggested Informational Texts__**

Greek, //Terracotta Hydria// (ca. 510 BCE) Leonardo da Vinci, //Mona Lisa// (1503-1506) Michelangelo, //David// (1504)
 * __Suggested Art__**

__**Suggested Architecture**__ The Parthenon (447-432 BCE)

Resource Links
1. Seamus Heaney reads "The Underground" 2. Seamus Heaney reads "Bogland" 3. Robert Frost reads "The Road Not Taken" 4. Explanation and analysis of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (John Keats) 5. SOAPSTone Chart (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) - SpringBoard Workbook p. 453 6. TP-CASTT Analysis Chart (Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude, Shifts, Title, Theme) - SpringBoard Workbook p. 454

Activities
Are poems better when they follow a strict rhyme or meter? Why or why not? This seminar question may also be used as an essay topic. Be sure to include at least three reasons or examples from the texts to support your argument. Your teacher may give you the opportunity to share your initial thoughts on the classroom blog in order to get feedback from your classmates. (SL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.3, RL.9-10.4, RL.9-10.6, SL.9-10.1, SL.9-10.3)
 * Writing (Argument) and Seminar Question**

The teacher will have the class create two overlapping circles, each comprised of an equal number of students. One circle will be an inner circle, while the second will be an outer circle forming around the inner one. Once the circles are created, each student will then match up with the student in the same position he/she is in with the other circle. The students will then discuss a particular topic and/or poem with their partner for a predetermined time decided upon by the teacher. When this time has expired, the outer circle will then rotate so that each student is faced with a new partner. A new topic will then be discussed by the partners.
 * Inside / Outside Circle Discussion**

The teacher will divide the class into groups of four or five students, with each group getting a poem and/or piece of artwork, an oversized sheet of paper, and markers. Within the groups, the students will analyze the poem/artwork that was assigned to them and discuss their thoughts and feelings relating to the work. The group will then use the oversized sheet of paper and markers in order to create a visual presentation of their discussion. At the end of the group activity, one student will volunteer to be the presenter while the other members of the group will watch the presentations of the other groups. The students watching the presentations will have a short period of time to read the poem assigned to the other group or view the piece of artwork. The presenters will then discuss what their group thought and explain the work that was completed.
 * Stay and Stray**

The teacher will divide the class into groups of four or five students. Each group will receive a poem along with a worksheet presenting four to five questions (enough for each student in the group to always have a question to answer). The students will read the poem, then answer the first question on their worksheet. After a predetermined time interval, the students will switch worksheets and then answer the next question. Once all the questions on the worksheet have been answered, the students will then have a group conversation based on their thoughts and the answers of their classmates.
 * Table Text**

> (This may also be incorporated into poetic writing by providing the students with a writing prompt and having them write without worrying about format, grammar, or any particular rhyme scheme.)
 * Poetry Reading Exercises**
 * Close Reading - Access small sections of a poem (several lines or a stanza) for the students to read. Then have the students re-read, mark, and annotate the key passages word-by-word and line-by-line.
 * Free Writing - Using a fluid brainstorming process to write without constraints in order to solidify and convey the writer's purpose.
 * Choral Reading - Reading text lines aloud individual and/or in student groups to present an interpretation. (This can also be coupled with oral interpretation - reading a text orally while providing the necessary inflection and emphasis that demonstrate an understanding of the meaning of the poem.)

Assessments
Most great poems explore one idea or concept, often distilling it to its essence. Look carefully at three masterpieces of art (eg: the //Mona Lisa//, the //David//, the Parthenon). After looking at these works of art, do you believe that the artists who made them did similar things? (SL.9-10.1, SL.9-10.2)
 * Art / Class Discussion**

Discuss whether you agree with Seamus Heaney when he credits poetry "because credit is due to it, in our time and in all time, for its truth to life, in every sense of that phrase." Say why or why not, and give examples from poems studied or other poems to illustrate your position. State your thesis clearly and include at least three pieces of evidence to support it. Your teacher may ask you to record your presentation as a podcast for publication on the class web page. (RL.9-10.4, RI.9-10.5, RI.9-10.6, SL.9-10.4, SL.9-10.2, SL.9-10.6)
 * Oral Presentation**

Read and listen to or watch Seamus Heaney read "The Underground." Identify and read more about the literary and other allusions in the poem and explain why they might enhance appreciation of the poem. (//Extension//: Discuss how the use of enjambment adds layers of meaning to the poem. Try writing a poem using enjambment to achieve the same effect.) (RL.9-10.4, RL.9-10.9, W.9-10.2, W.9-10.7, EL.9-10.5)
 * Research and Informative / Explanatory Writing**

Select a poem (from the list of Exemplar Texts) and perform the following tasks:
 * Note Taking and Narrative Writing**
 * Annotate the poem for the poet's use of poetic devices.
 * Using your annotations, explicate the poem.
 * In a single paragraph (at least one hundred words long), discuss the poem's theme and the way in which the poet's use of these devices illuminates the theme. (RL.9-10.4, W.9-10.3)

The students will make a presentation on which form of poetry he/she finds to be most effective in expressing thoughts and feelings. The students will be required to discuss his/her own views of each poetic form that was learned in class. Additionally, the students must include in-depth reasoning to support their views of each specific area of poetry discussed. This can additionally be made into a presentation or debate between students of differing opinions.
 * Individual Analysis of Poetic Form**